1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to forklifts with attached headguards, particularly to illumination devices and roof members that can be mounted to a ceiling portion of such a headguard.
2. Background Art
The mounting of vinyl sheets or flat metal sheeting on the ceiling portions of headguards attached to a forklift has conventionally been a general practice to keep out the sun or rain (See Japanese U.M. Application Laid Open Nos. 58-93519 & 59-69014).
However, rain water can easily accumulate on vinyl sheets and since there are no lips or drip edges this accumulated rain water can drop on the front and rear portions of the driver's seat during acceleration or braking to interfere with operation. On the other hand, although it is more difficult for rain to collect on flat metal sheeting in comparison with vinyl sheet, similar to vinyl sheets there is still the defect in that no means are provided to guide the rain water to a rain gutter of the headguard, allowing the rain water to fall on the driver's seat during acceleration and braking. Also, both vinyl sheet and flat metal sheeting obstruct the upper field of view hindering cargo handling operations.
Now, in recent years resin panels having a clear window portion in the front area and drip edges around the periphery are being used as a roof member. This type of roof member can efficiently guide the rain water on the upper surface through the drip edge provided on the periphery thereof to the rain guttering on the headguard. Also, as a window portion is provided a driver can further confirm operation because of his view above the head guard. However, there is a problem with this type of roof member in that water does not drain well because the window portion is essentially level with the other remaining portions. For this reason, it is easy for the window portion to fog up and further, even though a drip edge is provided, water collected on the roof can still overflow the drip edge and fall on the driver's seat when accelerating or braking.
In the meantime, for nighttime operation of forklifts, it is a general practice to fix a light on a crosspiece of the ceiling portion of the headguard with an appropriate fixture
However, when flat metal sheeting, vinyl sheet or a roof member with drip edges are mounted to the ceiling portion of a head guard as mentioned above, the light and roof member interfere with each other with conventional light mounting fixtures and the mounting position of the roof member must be shifted. With such a shift, the rain protection function of the roof member is not fully exhibited.
In response to this problem, it is conceivable to mount the light so that it juts out from the front of the frame, but such a method cannot be utilized because there is a fear of the light being struck by the mast when the mast is tilted back.